Wenger's most important summer since he joined Arsenal

Last updated : 04 June 2003 By Nicosia Gooner
Arsene - Some crucial decisions to make this summer
No doubt despite Graham's unbelievable success, I am sure you all remember how bad we were in his last year. We finished 12th (Yes, 5 positions off relegation), went out to Millwall in the 3rd round of the FA Cup and I suppose the only success was getting to the final of the Cup Winners Cup. And do you remember some of the players we used in that year? Well, here is a list: Bartram, McGowan, Selley, McGoldrick, Morrow, Jensen (a hero or what?), Hillier, Dickov, Helder, Kiwomya, Carter, Flatts, Shaw, need I go on?

And here is another fact that you may have forgotten: Goals scored for = 52, Goals scored against = 49 and Ian Wright was top scorer with only 18 goals. Can you believe that with 30 players playing that season, they scored a total of only 50 goals (2 own goals) between them? And where are those people who said that the famous 5 defence (Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Adams, Bould) would never concede the number of goals (42) that we have conceded last season? In case you have forgotten, last season we scored 85 and conceded 42 goals. Yes, the last Graham team conceded 49 goals i.e. 7 more than last season.

Anyway, going back to Wenger and this summer, his squad for next season will probably decide our future for the next 5 seasons. If we have a good enough squad to win back the championship and do well in Europe, then I can see players such as Vieira, Henry and of course Wenger staying with us for the long term and on to the new stadium. If however, we fail to win the championship again next season, it would not surprise me if Vieira moves on and Wenger likewise which will then mean that Henry will follow.

So, I believe the following changes should take place:

Players that MUST Stay:

Cole, Vieira, Keown, Pires, Lauren, Henry, Gilberto, Sol

Players that MUST Go:

Luzhny (gone!), Stepanovs, Kanu

Player that will PROBABLY Go:

Seaman (gone!), Tavlaridis, Brown (gone!), Barrett (gone!)

Players that MUST be given a chance:

Pennant, Aliadiere, Svard, Bentley, Garry with Juan, Volz and Thomas waiting for a chance.

Players that I would like Wenger to buy:

Terry or Gallas (or both) but very unlikely that we get either, Mexes, Friedel but will probably end up with Sorensen which isn't too bad, and I would love us to buy the Serbia & Montenegro U-21 captain. He is one of the best right backs I have seen for a very long time.

Kewell would also be a welcome addition which mean that we may lose Parlour but I wouldn't be too unhappy with that.